The cutting edge

OMAHA, Neb. — Whether they're driving through, stuck here for work or savvy enough to make a long weekend out of this under-the-radar city, travelers tend to want a darn fine hunk of meat when visiting Omaha.

Steak from steak country. Omaha offers succulent brawn in venues that range from the hushed upscale (V. Mertz) to the unfussy historic (Johnny's Cafe) to the frozen-in-a-Midwestern-time-vacuum (The Drover).

But insisting on steakhouses in Omaha is like cashing out on deep dish in Chicago. What a shame. Here's a look at some of the city's most inventive, playful and neighborhood-favorite joints:

Chef Clayton Chapman, an Omaha native, attended culinary school in Chicago and worked at Tru under chef Rick Tramonto and chef Laurent Gras, then consulted for Tru. He also did some well-deserved gastronomic touring through Europe after leaving Chicago.

Returning to Omaha, Chapman in December 2010 opened The Grey Plume, an upscale farm-to-table haunt in Omaha's revived Midtown. He co-owns Plume with one of his former professors, Chicago chef Michael Howe. Chapman aims to serve at least 90 percent locally produced food, which has him pickling, preserving and canning for the winter.

You can read about Chapman's cooking in Time, Gourmet online, New York magazine, Travel & Leisure, Bon Appetit and Wired, or just take a quick flight to Nebraska to get a bite for yourself.

For a sense of Plume's presentation, take the shiitakes: "They're cold-smoked with a local walnut wood, and cloched," Chapman said. Servers then remove the cloche at the table so the dish "smokes into the dining room." Quite a lot of fun for $13.

Lot 2, 6207 Maple St.; 402-504-4200; lot2benson.com

Lot 2 hums along in Benson, Omaha's version of Chicago's Logan Square. (Read: tight-knit community, recent gentrification, unexhausted "cool factor.") With its street-level front window, warm lightscape and proximity to Omaha's new "it" bar (Krug Park), Lot 2 has a lot going for it. After a chat with the restaurant's young waitstaff, you realize another perk of Omaha tourism: Even the hipsters are nice.

A Dundee neighborhood favorite, Dario's offers an excellent patio, casual cafe tables and a back bar that occasionally fills with young people. Like humans everywhere, Omahans dig the frites cones with dipping sauce ($6). Also noteworthy are the mussels ($17-$18) and the pheasant ragout with wild mushrooms, house-made mustard spaetzle and Parmesan ($19).

Block 16, 1611 Farnam St.; 402-342-1220; block16omaha.com

This small space is all about transformation. And fun. Located between City Hall, Omaha's downtown library and several office buildings on a block that's as vertically dense as the city gets, Block 16 likely could survive on the quick-lunch crowd alone. But when Paul Urban and Jessica Joyce bought the restaurant in November 2010, they transformed it from New York Chicken & Gyros (home of Philly cheesesteaks and fries) into something unique.

Block 16 offers lunch and dinner and a menu that winks with wry creativity. For example, Urban and Joyce run a "Snails in Fun Ways" series; past items include snails with crepes, Gruyere and Mornay ($6); snail chowder ($6); and cast-iron French-style with herbs, Gruyere and baguette ($6).

Even though the Reuben was invented in Omaha's Blackstone Hotel (as any local foodie will tell you), finding a solid vegan version proves challenging. With its monthly vegan specials, Block 16 rises to the occasion. Its seitan version ($7.25) boasts creative twists on the time-honored original: Thousand Island dressing appears as "Kajillion Island," with capers and pickled red onions; sauerkraut becomes pork chocrutte; and pickled beets add an appropriately earthy flavor. Whether lunching locals want to escape the dreary office buildings that Omaha-native Alexander Payne made famous in "About Schmidt," or whether they want a zany, heartfelt dinner, Block 16 delivers.

La Buvette, 511 S. 11th St.; 402-344-8627; labuvetteomaha.com

This airy cafe and grocery is owned by a pair of renowned free spirits: the quirky, cosmopolitan Mark and Vera Mercer. (A crash course on Omaha's architectural preservation movement would include a chapter on the Mercers and the rest of their family, a group of forward-thinking bohemians who protected the city's warehouse district long before rehabbed lofts grew trendy.) Order a house-cured gravlax salad ($9) and uncork a bottle from the grocery. If you harbor no guilt about wine at lunch, find communion here.

McFoster's, 302 S. 38th St.; 402-345-7477; mcfosters.com

For those who want the opposite of a steak dinner, this is it. McFoster's health-food joint fills a converted gas station and has been juicing, julienning and jammin' since 1994. This is the spot for drum circles, Keystone pipeline protests and chocolate vegan cheesecake ($5.25).

About that steak: For a sense of Omahans' complicated relationship to the flesh that made their city famous, ask the locals about one short-lived slogan from the Omaha Convention & Visitors Bureau. People maligned the tourist tag line. The phrase? Omaha: Rare. Well Done.

If you must have it, these establishments specialize in steaky steakness:

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